Kimberly Elise is set to take the female lead in the P.D.R. The inner-city sports drama is produced by Lionsgate and already has Terrence Howard attached as the male lead. Variety reports that the movie is based on the true story of Jim Ellis, a Philadelphia swim coach who after fixing an abandoned city pool, recruited African-American teenagers to join his team, and eventually went on to win the Pennsylvania state championship.

Elise can currently bee seen in the CBS series Close to Home and has appeared in the movies Diary of a Mad Black Woman and The Manchurian Candidate. The film will also star Bernie Mac and will be directed by South African commercial and music-video director Sunu Gonera.